Breadcrumb Trail Links

Spanish midfielder prepares for FC Edmonton season with thoughts of family back home

Author of the article:

Derek Van Diest

Publishing date:

April 15, 2020 • 4 minute read

York 9 midfielder Manuel Apricio (10) battles for the ball with FC Edmonton defender Ramon Soria Alonso (5) on June 5, 2019, in the first half of a Canadian Championship soccer match at York University Field.Dan Hamilton/ USA TODAY Sports for CPL

Article Sidebar

Share this Story: Spanish midfielder prepares for FC Edmonton season with thoughts of family back home

Spanish midfielder prepares for FC Edmonton season with thoughts of family back homeBack to video

According to the Johns Hopkins University and Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center, Spain has the second-highest number of reported infections in the world at 172,541 with 18,056 deaths.

“Things got pretty bad, but now it looks like the situation is getting a little better,” Soria said. “Now we’re three or four weeks with infections and I think the numbers are falling a little bit and not as many people are dying per day. It was pretty bad for a while, over 1,000 people were dying per day. Now that number has come down, which is a positive sign and hopefully they’ll lower even more.”

Soria, 31, is from Alicante, Spain, but also has family in Barcelona and Madrid. He is currently in Edmonton as Canadian Premier League training camps had opened before the league was suspended due to the outbreak.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

FC Edmonton Ramon Soria Alonso (5) tries to keep up with York9 FC Ryan Telfer (R) battle for the ball during action in the Canadian Premier League at Clarke Field in Edmonton on Aug. 25, 2019. Ed Kaiser / Postmedia

FC Edmonton was to have played its season opener on Vancouver Island this past Saturday against Pacific FC. It is uncertain when the league will be able to resume as coronavirus cases continue to climb in Canada.

“My family back home is all good,” Soria said. “There were some days that were problematic, but for the most part, everyone is well. I had a couple of friends that got the virus, but it wasn’t too bad and they are doing well.”

Soria boarded a flight from Spain to Canada on Feb. 28, just before the outbreak exploded in Spain. Since then, the entire country is on lockdown as they try to prevent further spread.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Only the United States has more documented cases than Spain with 584,073 infected and 23,709 deaths as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins.

“Things were good when I left, there weren’t many cases and just when I got here things changed within five days in Spain,” Soria said. “That’s when cases started to appear and when I came, that’s where there were a lot of cases in Italy and that’s when things were getting bad in Italy. But at the time, there wasn’t much in Spain.

“The thing with the virus is that it can take up to 14 days to detect and when I came, a lot of people could have been infected but they wouldn’t have known about it. That’s why it all the cases happened so suddenly and things became complicated so fast.”

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Having kept track of what is happening back home, Soria is stressing the importance of self-isolation and social distancing to help curb the spread of the virus here in Canada. He is in constant contact with his family back home.

“I’m talking to them every day,” he said “I talked to the on Skype or WhatsApp, so we’re well connected, which is good.”

FC Edmonton midfielder Ramon Soria, right, dribbles away from a member of Valour FC at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg on Saturday May 4, 2019. Chris Procaylo / Postmedia

Soria grew up playing in Spain and developed in the Villareal system of the Spanish La Liga, before moving on to play with Mallorca B in the Second Division. In 2014, Soria played with the Ottawa Fury of the now defunct North American Soccer League.

In 2016 and 2017 Soria played with Puerto Rico FC of the NASL and after a stint back in Spain, returned to North America to play with FC Edmonton. Along with being a professional soccer player, Soria is also a licensed lawyer.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

“If I wanted, I can go work as a lawyer,” he said. “I’ve specialized in sports, so I can work on contracts and things like that. That’s what I’ll probably do after I retire.”

Soria feels he still has plenty of soccer left in him, however, and is hoping to get an opportunity to showcase his abilities whenever the CPL season gets underway. He played 23 games for FC Edmonton last year, scoring a goal in a holding midfielder’s role.

This year, Soria is expected to return to his natural position at left back.

“I think we’ll have a good team,” Soria said. “I think a lot of teams around the league have changed more than we have. I think we have high expectations and we have a lot of confidence that we can do very well this season and better than we did last year.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

“When we get back to training, that’s when we’ll have a better idea of how well we can do as we get better day by day. Right now, on paper, it’s tough to tell. The expectations are high and we’re very positive but we’ll have to wait to get back on the field and hopefully we come together well.”

Having bounced around a number of different leagues around the world, Soria was unsure what to expect in his first season with FC Edmonton. As the CPL’s inaugural year, there was plenty of uncertainty regarding the caliber of play.

“I thought it was a good league, in all honestly, it was better than I thought it would be,” he said. “There is still a long way to go for it to be at a level of other leagues in Europe, particularly at a tactical level, but I think it was a very competitive league.

“I think the league is growing and this year it’s going to grow even more. It’s logical that a place like Canada should have a league to help develop Canadian players and it’s going to get better and better.”

Share this Story: Spanish midfielder prepares for FC Edmonton season with thoughts of family back home

Trending

Related Stories

This Week in Flyers

Article Comments

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Notice for the Postmedia Network

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.